For Gustard R26...which bang for the buck: DDC or LHY OCK clock?


I've been enjoying this dac for several months now. I have tried USB and COAX and now I2S.

There is a noticeable improvement in each of these inputs. I have read many of the discussions here regarding both DDC and external clocks. I am wondering which of these would give more bang for the buck. The Gustard goes very well with my tube amps.

I am considering the LHY OCK 1 or 2 for clocks and undecided for the DDC.

peareye

They look like good quality.  It's a digital pulse or wave they are sending to each device, not an audio signal so it should be fine if they are wide bandwidth and are the true impedance.  .  I bought a WireWorld BNC to RCA and it was $120 so it will be interesting to compare the Pasternack.com cables.   

I bought an equivalent of the Pasternack from Mini-circuits, another specialist manufacturer of RF cables and other stuff for industry and lab use. Selected it based on very good specs for shielding and low levels of internal reflections, the best specs I could find for BNC terminations when measured at 10Mhz.

https://nz.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Mini-Circuits/141-24BM+?qs=xZ%2FP%252Ba9zWqY%252BuUDA9xTQ2Q%3D%3D&countryCode=NZ&currencyCode=NZD

It sounds good vs some other cheaper BNC cables I had but unfortunately not as good as an AliX LMR-400 clone which is in turn some way behind the Harmonic Tech Digital Copper III. It seems there’s more in play here sonically than just the fundamentals of shielding level, accurate impedance, good terminations and low reflections.

For those who use the OCK-2 for their R26 (or any of the other Gustard DACs) is there any preference for the square or the sine output?

@lollipopguild A couple of forum members recommended sine wave earlier in this post, so I went with that.  I haven't tried square wave.

I read some other posts on the internet and a few guys preferred square. Something along the lines of it being more detailed and sine being smooth. I'm getting good detail with sine and I suspect that I wouldn't like square (reading between the lines). Maybe I'll try it some day. 

@kereru @pindac   Stupid question.  If I'm streaming (innuos Zen MK3 by USB to Gustard U18, Gustard U18 by i2S to R26), should I have DSD Direct turned on (on the R26) so that the internal interpolating FIR filter is off?   Would I turn it off if I'm using my Denon DCD-1700NE as a transport via coaxial digital?

It's working fine with DSD Direct turned off.  

If it matters, I'm using the LHY-OCK2 (connected to both U18 and R26).